The typical computer system includes at least one processor and a memory device. Executing on the computer system are various types of applications, one such type is user applications. Many user applications are designed around the concept of forms, such as spreadsheets, databases, web pages, and tax applications. As used herein, a form is any type of document (Hyper-text Markup Language (HTML) page, spreadsheets, Extensible Markup Language (XML) document, text file, etc.) in which functionality is achieved through the use of fields. As used herein, a field in a form holds, displays, and/or stores a data value, which may be supplied (e.g., by the user, a regulatory agency, and/or an outside resource) or calculated using an equation.
Often, the interdependencies in a form are complicated. For example, a change in one field of a form, in a different document, or in a different form may affect other fields of the form. Sometimes the other fields may not intuitively appear linked to the changed field. For example, in a tax preparation or other financial application, a user may be unable to understand how input in one field relates to input in another field. Specifically, the user may only see the end result of one or more calculations, which are performed to generate the end result displayed in the field.
In order to understand the interdependencies of a document, users rely on static explanations in help files. The help files provide an explanation of the form that is directed to all users of application having the form.